GOLDMAN: Here are 19 great stocks shoveling tons of cash to their investors

Investors don't have to sell a company's stock to make money off of it.

Dividends and share buybacks help increase value for people holding a stock, and there's a lot of money to be had as companies shovel record amounts of cash back to shareholders.

In a note to clients Thursday, Goldman Sachs' Amanda Sneider gave insights into a lot of the firms's investment strategies including the "Total Cash Return to Shareholders Basket," which identifies the company's that return the most cash to their investors.

"We measure total cash return as the trailing four-quarter gross buybacks and common dividends as a share of the company’s market cap at the beginning of this period," Sneider explained.

The average stock in this basket yielded a 9.2% cash return, while the average stock on the S&P 500 returned just 4.7%.

We compiled a list of the top 19 stocks, all with a total cash return yield of more than 10%. Below include how much of the return is from dividends or buybacks. You'll also find a comment about cash returns from company executives on the during their latest quarterly earnings call.

Anthem Inc: 10.2% total yield

Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

Ticker: ANTM

Industry: Health Care

Buyback Yield: 8.2%

Dividend Yield: 1.9%

Executive Comment: "We repurchased 4 million shares during the quarter for approximately $637 million, representing a weighted average price of $157.89. As of June 30, we had approximately 4.3 billion of share repurchase authorization remaining, which is intended to be utilized over a multiyear period subject to market conditions," said CFO Wayne DeVeydt.

Source: Goldman Sachs

NVIDIA Corp: 10.1% total yield

Thomson Reuters

Ticker: NVDA

Industry: Information Technology

Buyback Yield: 8.1%

Dividend Yield: 2.0%

Executive Comment: "During the second quarter, we paid $52 million in cash dividends and $400 million associated with an accelerated repurchase agreement. As a result, we returned an aggregate of $452 million to shareholders following $99 million in the first quarter," said CFO Colette Kress.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Tesoro Corp: 10.5% total yield

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Ticker: TSO

Industry: Energy

Buyback Yield: 8.1%

Dividend Yield: 2.4%

Executive Comment: "I don't think we're as rigid as to saying that there's a payout target we want to have. We want to continue to improve our total shareholder return. But when we think about our overall capital allocation priorities, we're really committed and focused on driving more free cash flow growth. So having high returns on our cash investments, so being very disciplined there," said CFO Steven Sterin.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Illinois Tool Works: 11.0% total yield

REUTERS/China Daily

Ticker: ITW

Industry: Industrials

Buyback Yield: 8.9%

Dividend Yield: 2.1%

Executive Comment: "In terms of capital allocation, we continue to invest aggressively for growth, pay an attractive dividend that grows in line with earnings over time, and as I said earlier, we expect to invest approximately $2 billion in share repurchases with $1.8 billion completed to-date," said CFO Michael Larsen.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Darden Restaurants: 11.5% total yield

Olive Garden/YouTube

Ticker: DRI

Industry: Consumer Discretionary

Buyback Yield: 7.3%

Dividend Yield: 4.2%

Executive Comment: "Yes, so what we've said is that we will keep the -- our plan is to keep the dividend whole between the two entities, between Darden post the separation, and then within the new REIT, the absolute value. So yes, we are very confident we can preserve that dividend, and actually continue to show some nice improvement or progress with the dividend pay-out ratio," said CFO Brad Richmond.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Macy's Inc: 11.4% total yield

AP

Ticker: M

Industry: Consumer Discretionary

Buyback Yield: 9.2%

Dividend Yield: 2.2%

Executive Comment: "In terms of the buyback as with every year we look at our cash flow and look at what's the appropriate leverage ratios and we utilize our cash appropriately. Obviously with this transaction happening at the end of the year, unlikely to have a big impact on the buyback in '15 more likely beginning of '16, but obviously that's incremental cash that can be used to buyback more stock," said CFO Karen Hoguet.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Hartford Financial Services: 11.9% total yield

Richard Drew/AP Images

Ticker: HIG

Industry: Consumer Discretionary

Buyback Yield: 10.0%

Dividend Yield: 1.9%

Executive Comment: "I think you have seen our history and track record, particularly working to improve our financial position and deliver the firm, and obviously reward shareholders with accretive capital management. So the way we think about is we announced a plan through 2016. That is our intention. It is our highest and best use of excess capital," said CEO Christopher Swift.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Marriott International: 12.0% total yield

San Francisco Marriott Union Square

Ticker: MAR

Industry: Consumer Discretionary

Buyback Yield: 10.7%

Dividend Yield: 1.3%

Executive Comment: "From 2012 to 2014, we returned over $4 billion to shareholders. We now expect to return over $2 billion to shareholders in repurchases and dividends in 2015 alone. We are bullish about our future." said CEO Arne Sorenson.

Source: Goldman Sachs

VeriSign Inc: 12.2% total yield

Paul Sakuma/AP

Ticker: VRSN

Industry: Information Technology

Buyback Yield: 12.2%

Dividend Yield: 0.0%

Executive Comment: "As of June 30, 2015, we have $761 million remaining in our share repurchase program, which has no expiration. We continually evaluate the overall cash and investing needs of the business and consider the best uses for our cash, including potential share repurchases," said CEO James Bidzos.

Source: Goldman Sachs

LyondellBasell Industries: 12.4% total yield

Thomson Reuters

Ticker: LYB

Industry: Information Technology

Buyback Yield: 9.6%

Dividend Yield: 2.8%

Executive Comment: "Well as I had mentioned during our last call, Bob, we continue to develop our strategy and sharpen our thinking around the long-term plan for LyondellBasell. In the short term we continue to stay focused on delivering value to shareholders via our regular dividend as well as our share repurchase program. Our balance sheet is very strong. And so we'll continue to evaluate opportunities," said CEO Bhavesh Patel.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Travelers Companies: 12.4% total yield

Getty Images

Ticker: TRV

Industry: Financials

Buyback Yield: 10.1%

Dividend Yield: 2.3%

Executive Comment: "And Jay said the keyword timing. In any quarter, our share repurchases is going to be based upon what our views of prior capital build up has been. So just because in one quarter or series of quarters, it’s higher than what the earnings look like is really on an indication of a fundamental change in philosophy. It’s still being driven by the creation of operating income and, therefore, capital in excess of what’s need to support our business," said CFO Jay Benet.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Express Scripts Holding: 12.6% total yield

Rick Scuteri/AP Images

Ticker: ESRX

Industry: Health Care

Buyback Yield: 12.6%

Dividend Yield: 0.0%

Executive Comment: "I think we've proven over many, many years is that when we have excess capital, we return it to our shareholders. So whether it be through share repurchases or through accretive acquisitions, our focus is to manage your capital in a diligent manner to maximize returns. So that will always be a focus of ours," said CEO George Paz.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Allstate Corp: 12.7% total yield

Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Ticker: ALL

Industry: Financials

Buyback Yield: 10.4%

Dividend Yield: 2.4%

Executive Comment: "During the quarter, we returned $642 million in cash to common shareholders through the combination of common dividends and common share repurchases. We repurchased 7.6 million common shares for $517 million in the open market and under the accelerated share repurchase agreement that settled on May 8, 2015," said CFO Steven Shebik.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Starwood Hotels and Resorts: 14.1% total yield

Wikimedia Commons

Ticker: HOT

Industry: Consumer Discretionary

Buyback Yield: 11.0%

Dividend Yield: 3.2%

Executive Comment: "Finally, on return of capital, we repurchased 1.2 million shares in the second quarter for a total cost of $105 million and paid a dividend of $0.375 per share or approximately $64 million in total. Year-to-date, we have returned $228 million through repurchases and $128 million through dividends for a total return of $356 million. We expect to complete total share repurchases of $350 million in 2015 at the high end of the $300 million to $350 million range we provided last quarter," said CFO Thomas Mangas.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Northrop Grumman: 15.5% total yield

NASA/Northrop Grumman

Ticker: NOC

Industry: Industrials

Buyback Yield: 13.2%

Dividend Yield: 2.4%

Executive Comment: "Our capital deployment priorities continue to be investing in our business, managing the balance sheet, maintaining a competitive dividend and returning excess cash to our shareholders through share repurchases. We believe these priorities are serving our shareholders and the company well," said CEO Wesley Bush.

Source: Goldman Sachs

CBS Corp: 17.0% total yield

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Ticker: CBS

Industry: Consumer Discretionary

Buyback Yield: 16.1%

Dividend Yield: 0.9%

Executive Comment: "At the same time, the market is giving us an attractive opportunity to retire a significant number of shares. During the second quarter, we repurchased more than 13 million shares for nearly $800 million. As of June 30, we had $3 billion remaining on our current buyback program. As we've previously said, we plan to complete this program sometime next year, and we will do so while adhering to our target leverage ratio, which we raised last quarter to 2.75 times," said CFO Joseph Ianniello.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Motorola Solutions: 19.9% total yield

Thomson Reuters

Ticker: MSI

Industry: Information Technology

Buyback Yield: 18.0%

Dividend Yield: 1.8%

Executive Comment: "Our strong balance sheet and cash flow allows us to maintain our investment-grade rating and our ability to drive the growth of our business through strategic acquisitions and investments in innovation. This accelerated return of capital reflects our confidence in the growth prospects and future value of the company," said CEO Greg Brown.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Juniper Networks: 21.7% total yield

Wikimedia Commons

Ticker: JNPR

Industry: Information Technology

Buyback Yield: 20.3%

Dividend Yield: 1.4%

Executive Comment: "In the quarter we completed $600 million of share repurchases. Since Q1 of 2014, inclusive of share repurchases and dividends, we have returned approximately $3.4 billion of capital to shareholders, against our commitment to return $4.1 billion by the end of 2016," said CFO Robyn Denholm.

Source: Goldman Sachs

KLA-Tencor Corp: 30.4% total yield

TGPRN KLA-Tencor Corporation

Ticker: KLAC

Industry: Information Technology

Buyback Yield: 5.1%

Dividend Yield: 25.3%

Executive Comment: "So we see a continuation over the course of the year, now approach is to do, what we call, a dollar cost average-like approach towards that over time. And so we'll continue to do it quarter in, quarter out. Certainly, we – as we manage our overall cash relative to our U.S. target, it does have an impact in terms of cash needs and in terms of where we ultimately end up around share repurchases," said CFO Bren Higgins.